US: Comcast and AT&T acquisitions delayed again by FCC review

The Federal Communications Commission paused its reviews of Comcast Corp.’s bid for Time Warner Cable Inc. and AT&T Inc.’s proposed purchase of DirecTV.

The FCC is awaiting a court ruling on whether CBS Corp. and other media companies need to divulge programming contracts for the reviews, the agency said in a notice posted on its website. It said it was pausing the 180-day clocks that set informal deadlines for its rulings.

A U.S. appeals court heard arguments on the media companies’ petition to protect their documents on Feb. 20, and hasn’t issued its opinion. The FCC in the order Friday said it “would be advantaged by knowing the resolution” before the informal clocks reach the 180-day mark, which they were slated to do by the end of this month.

“We understand the FCC’s decision,” Sena Fitzmaurice, a Comcast spokeswoman, said in an e-mailed statement. She said the agency “appears to be making significant progress in the review.”

Full Content: LA Times

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